August 3, 2025, found an intrepid group of 15 GCAS members visiting assorted sites within the City of Rocks State Park, under the guidance of archaeologist Bob Stokes PhD.* Dr. Stokes has done extensive exploration and research at City of Rocks and kindly offered his expertise to our group for the day. The recent monsoon rains made walking along the park’s Cienega Trail an experience of vibrant green in an otherwise classic Chihuahuan desert landscape.
Our group visited an area of the state park with the remnants of seasonal/temporary Apache shelters [second pic, on left]. In another location we examined mortar holes (plus one through-and-through gyratory crusher hole), a nearby rock shelter, and completed the day with a tour of the park’s Mimbres-era kiva site [third pic down there on the right] which Dr. Stokes himself had excavated during a few seasons with his ENMU students and GCAS volunteers.
Dr. Stokes has been a longtime friend and supporter of the GCAS and we thank him very much for taking time under the hot August sun to illustrate some of the archaeological sites that make the City of Rocks State Park so special. We’ll see you again soon, Bob!
* Dr. Stokes is currently based in Santa Fe as the Program Support Bureau chief for ENMRD (Energy, Minerals, & Natural Resources Dept.) for the New Mexico State Parks. He formerly served the New Mexico State Parks as staff archaeologist. Between these state appointments he chaired the Archaeology Department at ENMU in Portales NM while teaching undergraduate and graduate level classes there. He was directing archaeologist for ENMU field schools, focusing upon investigations within the City of Rocks State Park. An author and editor whose most recent publications include Mogollon Communal Spaces and Places in the Greater American Southwest and Communities and Households in the Greater American Southwest: New Perspectives and Case Studies, he has conducted field and laboratory research projects throughout New Mexico and the US Southwest for over 30 years.
